Tiktok Ramen: Instant Noodles w/Egg, Butter, and Garlic

Hello! I’m back at it again with a recipe for Tiktok ramen.

I’m pretty sure I’m addicted to Tiktok and all the viral food hacks they have – I’m HOOKED. This Tiktok ramen was too easy to not try. I had all the ingredients in the pantry so it made for a quick and satisfying lunch. It was delicious!

Tiktok ramen is saucy, slightly sweet, full of umami, and really good. The flavors kind of remind me of an extra garlicky version of one of my all time favorite instant noodles: Indomie Mi Goreng, which is a take on Indonesian fried noodles.

I feel like everyone has their own favorite way of making instant ramen. To be honest, I think instant ramen is one of the greatest inventions out there! The person who invented it, Momofuku Ando, a Taiwanese-Japanese inventor, has a quote that I love: Human beings are noodle beings.

I am definitely a noodle being and all I want to do is eat noodles and live that noodle life.

What is Tiktok ramen?

Tiktok ramen is where you use instant ramen noodles, ditch the seasoning packet, and make your own sauce. Unlike soup-y ramen, Tiktok ramen is a soup-less ramen, kind of like mazemen or sesame noodles. Ramen noodles are tossed in a garlic butter soy brown sugar sauce, cooked with an egg and finished with a sprinkle of everything bagel seasoning.

Does Tiktok ramen taste good?

In a word: YES! Tiktok ramen is sweet and savory with added richness from the butter and egg, and just a hint of spice. Super addictive.

How to make Tiktok ramen

Cook your instant ramen. Don’t overcook it – mushy noodles are a travesty. Instant ramen should have an al dente bite. Pop the noodles into boiling water, set a timer, use a pair of chopsticks to loose the them up, and when the time is up, instantly drain them and set them aside. Pro tip: if you’re a true noodle lover, cook the noodles slightly less than the suggested cooking time, they will cook up a bit more while you’re tossing them in the sauce. This way you’ll have perfectly al dente noodles.
Make the sauce. In a pan, heat up the butter over low heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft. Stir in the crushed red pepper, then the brown sugar and soy sauce.
Toss. Add the drained noodles to the pan, turn up the heat, and toss to coat.
Cook the egg. Push the noodles to one side and add an egg to the pan and scramble until just set.
Serve. Place the noodles in a bowl and finish with sliced scallions and everything bagel spice. Enjoy hot!

Tiktok ramen ingredients

instant ramen – choose your favorite brand of instant ramen. The flavor doesn’t matter because you’re not going to use the seasoning packet. Our favorite noodles are Nong Shim Shin Ramyun because of how thick the noodles are.

butter – just bit of butter is melted down to cook up some garlic.
garlic – you need about 1 teaspoon of chopped or minced garlic. Or, if you’re a garlic lover, use as many cloves as you can handle.
brown sugar – the brown sugar adds a bit of caramel sweetness and color. If you don’t have brown sugar, you can use regular sugar or even honey.
soy sauce – use your favorite soy sauce – we like Yamasa or Kikkoman.
crushed red pepper flakes – you can add as many chili flakes as you like or leave them out all together, depending on your spice tolerance.
egg – throw an egg on it because ramen without an egg isn’t even ramen.
everything bagel spice – make it rain everything bagel spice!

Proteins

Do you want proteins to make this a full meal? Asian kids know: adding firm tofu, ground beef, shredded chicken, or (if you want to get fancy) boiled shrimp to instant ramen is the key to a happy tummy. The tofu and the ground beef you can easily fry up in the same pan before you make the sauce. For the shrimp and the chicken, just throw it into your noodle water for a few minutes (until fully cooked) and you’re good to go!

Why everything bagel spice?

Everything bagel spice is LIFE. Also, when you think about it, everything bagel spice is essentially furikake, which is Japanese rice seasoning. Furikake is a seasoning made up of toasted sesame seeds and seaweed and is eaten on rice and noodles. In Japan, they even have furikake chips. It makes sense that Tiktok ramen uses everything bagel spice to dress up ramen, after all they have sesame seeds in common.

How to make homemade everything bagel spice

If you don’t have any everything bagel spice, it’s super easy to mix up your own.

In a small bowl, mix together:
1.5 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp each poppy seeds, minced garlic, and minced onion
1 teaspoon coarse or flaky salt
Sprinkle it on everything!

Best ramen noodles

Our favorite brand of ramen is Nongshim, a Korean brand. They’re incredibly popular, both in Korea and all over the world. There’s actually a Nongshim noodle factory in LA and we visited it once. It was amazing! The chew and thickness of Nongshim noodles is just perfect. We usually buy either Shin Ramyun or Shin Black. Both have amazing texture.